Monday, August 4, 2014

“Eugenio” Explores WWII and Forgiveness at GAC

Carol GriffithGreenbelt
News Review

How do one’s religious beliefsstand up in the atrocities of war? Is
forgiveness really possible? Such questions are the themes of the thoroughly
engrossing “Eugenio,” now playing at the GreenbeltArtsCenter, the latest work
by playwright Anthony Gallo. Gallo, the director of the Seventh Street
Playhouse and author of over a dozen plays, tackles big issues with
intelligence and much talent. His recent productions include a Bible-based
trilogy; “Vandergrift!” which dealt

with union-organizing during the Gilded Age; and
“Lincoln and God” which treated our 16th
president’s spirituality as he wrestled with the challenges of abolishing
slavery while preserving the Union. “Eugenio,”

like many of Gallo’s other plays, has been
staged at the KennedyCenter and at several New York

venues. Set in Italy
in 1943 as the Nazis begin to occupy Rome, the
city’s ChiefRabbi, Israel
Zolli,

(excellently played by Steve Rosenthal) refuses
to believe that the Nazis plan to harm the Jews.

Finally convinced of the impending Holocaust by
his Roman Catholic allies Monsignor Hilary